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feel out meaning and examples

2025-09-12

Meaning

  • Feel out means to carefully or indirectly find out someone’s opinion, attitude, or intentions before making a decision or taking action.
  • It often suggests testing the situation cautiously rather than asking directly.

Grammar and Usage

  • Phrasal verb (transitive, informal).

  • Structure: feel out + object (person/situation).

  • Example pattern:

    • "feel someone out about something"
    • "feel out the situation before deciding"

Common Phrases

  • feel someone out about an idea – to ask indirectly what they think.
  • feel out the situation – to test or explore the situation carefully.
  • feel out a client – to see what the client really wants.

Collocations

  • feel out an idea
  • feel out a proposal
  • feel out the atmosphere
  • feel out the possibilities
  • feel someone out about plans

Examples

  1. She tried to feel out her boss about the possibility of working from home.
  2. Before making a big decision, he wanted to feel out the team’s opinion.
  3. They held a casual meeting to feel out potential investors.
  4. I’ll feel him out about whether he’s interested in joining the project.
  5. The politician felt out the crowd’s reaction before announcing his plan.
  6. He called the client just to feel out their expectations.
  7. We should feel out the situation before committing resources.
  8. She gently felt out her parents about the idea of moving abroad.
  • probe
  • sound out
  • test the waters
  • gauge
  • explore

Antonym

  • declare openly
  • state directly
  • announce